Valentine's Day For The Geek In Your Life

Valentine's Day is here once more. Scores of greeting card manufacturers, chocolatiers, and teddy-bear makers are frolicking giddily among the hills of green (money, that is), having convinced us again that telling that special someone "I love you" every other day of the year just isn't enough.There's plenty of ways to spend the dough on that special someone in your life today. A quick trip to ThinkGeek.com elicits a multitude of inspiration:

• How about a T-Qualizer Babydoll Tee: A cutesy pink baby doll T-shirt with a heart-shaped glowing equalizer that animates to ambient noise or music (company is not responsible for other guys ogling said gal's chest while it glows).

• Never has salmonella and Ebola been more desired than now. These and other microbes have been transformed into oversized plush characters that you can hug and squeeze to your heart's content, and never have to pop any antibiotics.

• Help your special someone cut the stress out of their busy day in front of the computer with a USB aromatherapy oil burner. Just a drop or two of their favorite essential oil is all it takes. Plug the stick into the port and they'll be whisked away into their own special journey of the senses (Me, I'm a simple guy. Spray some Febreeze, and I'm yours).

For many, however, spending that extra cash on flowers and Godiva chocolate (delicious, melt-in-your-mouth truffle goodness -- where was I?) just isn't feasible. So how in this day and age do we share our feelings on the cheap (read: free)?

• If your lady is a book aficionada, why not give her two free Harlequin books? Sing up on their Web site and get two books filled with mystery and romance. Granted, you're signing up for a book club, which means they'll be sending you more books you actually have to pay for, but allegedly you can cancel at any time. Allegedly.

• Want to give your lover a romantic poem, but the creative juices aren't flowing enough to come up with one of your own? Check out these free Valentine's Day Poems. As long at you're using them for personal or noncommercial use, they're yours to use for the wooing.

• Want to find out just how compatible you and your guy are? Check out The Love Calculator. This freeware program enables you to "calculate the possibility of a successful relationship between two people." Hmm, you might want to try this in private before showing your Significant Other. You know ... just in case.

• If the love of your life swoons over Jack, Kate, Sawyer, or Sun every week, maybe they'd like to get an e-card starring one of their favorite Lost characters, compliments of ABC. Also available are e-cards for Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy fans.

Mmmm, McDreamy. I mean, ummm, err.